Melanie Martinez's Cry Baby Coloring Book Accused Of "Child Sexual Abuse Material"

When singer-songwriter Melanie Martinez released her Cry Baby Coloring Book in late 2016, she probably didn’t anticipate that it would resurface years later as a flashpoint for heated debate on TikTok. 

The coloring book has resurfaced after users began alleging that the book’s imagery promotes child abuse, while her fans defend it as misunderstood art. 

What’s in the Cry Baby Coloring Book?

For context, the Cry Baby Coloring Book serves as a companion piece to Martinez’s debut album, Cry Baby. The album and book follow the story of Cry Baby, a fictional character Martinez describes as “a fairy-tale version of me.” According to Martinez, Cry Baby’s experiences are exaggerated versions of her own childhood, although some depictions in the book are pretty disturbing, like kidnapped and escaping by poisoning her captor with milk and cookies.

Newsweek is the first outlet to report on the controversy. Per the news site, one image depicts a child with soap in her mouth, accompanied by the text: “She met a new boy and filled with hope / She said too much and always choked / So she washed her mouth out with soap / So that he wouldn’t pull the rope.” Another shows a wolf carrying the character under his arm, with a caption referencing “a bad wolf ice-cream man.” The character is visibly shocked. One of the last images in the book shows the character dressed as a gift on a dinner plate. Critics on TikTok argue that these depictions could be interpreted as child sexual abuse material (CSAM).

@daniellesadvocacy on TikTok says in her viral video that “There's only one kind of group of people that would be interested in coloring pictures, depicting children having objects shoved into their mouth or taking a bubble bath, and looking uncomfortable and scared at the same time. And this is just further proof that even women, even women, can be predators.”

TikTok user @sadboygumart commented on the book, garnering over 7.5 million views, saying: “I don’t think all of them are bad, but there are at least two, possibly three, that are just really f****** weird. And as an artist, we know what the f*** we are doing. … If I had to depict a child in certain situations, there is a way to do that in a very safe way.”

In a 2016 interview with The Untitled Magazine, Martinez opened up about her work. “The album is basically a storybook. Every song leads into each other and it all tells the story of this girl Cry Baby’s life,” she said. “She’s a little girl, but she’s going through very adult situations. It’s very dark and I’m super excited about it because it’s taken about a year to write.”

She described Cry Baby as a character who evolves from “an emotional, vulnerable girl to being comfortable with being absolutely insane and being unapologetic for it.” 

The 2017 Sexual Assault Allegations

One reason why people are questioning Martinez’s art choices is due to her alleged history. In 2017, musician Timothy Heller accused Martinez of sexual assault. According to Heller, Martinez persistently pressured her into a sexual encounter despite knowing she was in a relationship. Heller stated that she “eventually just broke down and gave in” but never explicitly consented.

Martinez responded with a statement denying the allegations, saying, “She never said no to what we chose to do together.”  

Still, supporters of Martinez continue to say it is just "art." A fan wrote on X, “If you don’t understand Melanie Martinez’s art & concept for Cry Baby, just stay away. It’s not meant for people like you.”